Tourism department interdicted from making payments from the Tourism Equity Fund

The High Court in Pretoria has interdicted the Tourism Department from processing applications for the R1.2 billion Tourism Equity Fund. The fund was established to give support to the tourism industry, which is one of the sectors that has been the hardest hit by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

The application was brought by lobby groups Solidarity and Afriforum earlier this month.   

They say the fund is racially-based as it only allocates funds to tourism businesses with more than 51% Black ownership. The groups have argued that everyone should be entitled to the fund as all businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown measures.  

Lobby group AfriForum has welcomed the interdict.  

AfriForum’s Campaign Manager, Jacques Broodryk, says, “This ruling is a major victory against the ANC government’s institutional racism against minorities. The racist tourism fund proves the seriousness of the government’s racial ideology in fiction and the only immune systems capable of fighting the government’s immoral racial discrimination seems to be fearless civil rights dogs such as AfriForum and Solidarity.“ 

Tourism Minister, Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has said she will abide by the ruling until the matter has been finalised.